A colleague recently decided to replace a rotting windowsill. He didn’t want to hire someone, so he researched what he needed to do, talked to friends who had experience, then did it himself.

As soon as he finished the windowsill, he noticed he needed to paint the window frame. As soon as he painted the window, he noticed the other windows in the house needed to be painted. And so on and so on. Success became about making the entire house look as good as possible.

Content that makes a customer happy. The Park Tool website homepage has two choices: “Tools” and “Fix It.” Translation: (1) You know the tool you want and just need a catalog, or (2) You know the problem and want to know how to fix it.

By Rex Hammock

When asked for good examples of marketers that use content and media for building long-term, loyal customer relationships, my top two answers used to be Williams-Sonoma and Orvis. Williams-Sonoma decided a long time ago it wasn’t in the pots and pans business—instead, it helped its clients be better cooks and entertainers by providing engaging content centered on great products. And Orvis is as famous for its fly-fishing schools and educational content as it is for its fly-fishing equipment. Both companies can teach us a lot about using customer media to build relationships.

But now, I have a new best example. For those who know my passion for bicycling (I bike-commute to work most days), it won’t come as a surprise that it’s bicycle-related: A company called Park Tool, the king of fix-it gizmos for bikes.

You may have never heard of this 55-year-old company, but anyone who loves a bicycle has. But Park Tool doesn’t just sell tools—they also teach customers how to fix their bikes with step-by-step processes. When a cyclist has a flat tire and watches a Park Tool education video to help him fix it, that individual’s relationship with his bike—and with Park Tool—changes forever. The person feels more empowered. Less intimidated.

After an hour or two of watching the company’s free tutorials, a cyclist can conquer her fear of having a chain break or getting a flat tire and being stranded on the road or trail.

How savvy is ParkTool’s use of customer media? Take a look at the Park Tool YouTube channel composed of how-to videos. Note how little hype there is. The content is all about educating and enlightening customers.

And what’s more amazing? ParkTool’s print ads have evolved from messaging about the quality of its tools to promoting its free online video tutorials, which have become the go-to source for those willing to take on do-it-yourself bicycle maintenance tasks.

To learn what masterful customer content is, take a look at the Park Tool full-page ad currently running in bicycle magazines.

“Learn how your bike works, how to fix a flat or do a complete overhaul. Park Tool’s website and YouTube Channel offer a comprehensive lineup of maintenance and repair help support.”

Is Park Tool’s education first-and-foremost strategy working?

Its YouTube channel has 151,756 subscribers and hundreds of comments that are more like love notes. Spend a few moments watching a video, and you’ll want to go out to your garage and break down your bike. Search Google or YouTube for any bike-related “how-to” and you’ll discover the SEO power of helpful content.

Lesson for marketing with content: Long-term loyalty comes from helping customers use your products, not just own your products. Customers don’t buy products; they buy solutions that often require hand-holding and support. And by hand-holding and support, we mean great customer content and media.

About Hammock Healthcare Idea Email | This post is part of Hammock’s award-winning Idea Email series. Idea Emails are sent every other week and share one insightful marketing idea. Idea Email comes in two flavors: Original and Healthcare. To subscribe to the original Idea Email (general marketing ideas), click here . To subscribe to the Healthcare Idea Email (healthcare marketing ideas), click here.

Earlier this week at a client’s healthcare conference, the featured keynote speaker was Super Bowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning. What interested me most in his remarks was how he, as one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time, remained so devoted to learning throughout the course of his career. And that willingness to learn was described as one aspect of what made him an outstanding leader.

Your new mousetrap is obviously better than your competitor’s. And you’ve done all the things a great marketer should do to explain to potential customers why they should change to your revolutionary new mousetrap.

Reports circulated last week that one in three GoFundMe campaigns were set up to help people pay medical bills is an amazing—though depressing—statistic. According to the CEO of the popular crowdsourced fundraising platform, more than $650 million is raised on the site every year for medical bills alone. And, in the past eight years since it began, the site has raised more than $5 billion from 50 million donations.

In the United Kingdom and Northern Europe, Facebook is launching a customer marketing program called Grow. Targeting business leaders, the ongoing program will include a quarterly print magazine and access to a special invitation-only event.

Wait! Did I just say “print magazine”? Yes, but Grow isn’t a magazine, according to Facebook; it’s a marketing program. But because Facebook didn’t include a print magazine in its initial announcement, reporters have made that the focus of their coverage.

I think Facebook is correct in describing Grow as the brand of a marketing program, and not just a magazine. Five years ago, in a longform post on the Hammock Idea Blog, I explored the roles magazines play as (1) a business model limited to ads and subscription revenue and (2) a medium that deepens relationships with customers or members and supports a business model such as an association or university.

What Facebook is doing is savvy. It demonstrates how to use the power of a direct-to-customer magazine within the context of a broader marketing strategy. It’s more than a magazine, but it probably wouldn’t work without the magazine component.

Bottomline | Facebook will be using multiple media channels to reach an audience critical to its long-term success. Selling ads in a niche magazine is not Facebook’s reason for developing Grow. Facebook’s goal is to position the company as the dominant thought leader among an audience of corporate executives or government leaders. It’s not a program playing a magazine business model. It’s a magazine supporting and protecting the core business model of Facebook.

Image: Getty Images

About Hammock Healthcare Idea Email | This post is part of Hammock’s award-winning Idea Email series. Idea Emails are sent every other week and share one insightful marketing idea. Idea Email comes in two flavors: Original and Healthcare. To subscribe to the original Idea Email (general marketing ideas), click here . To subscribe to the Healthcare Idea Email (healthcare marketing ideas), click here.

You’ve heard a lot about marketing personas, but how well do you understand their power and potential? Simply put, personas are fictional representations, or proxies, of your customers. By humanizing your audience and zeroing in on their particular interests, personas can be helpful marketing tools for creating more relevant and engaging content.

The history of a business or an association can too often get lost in the shuffle of time. The stories that define a company’s mission and values—its foundation—can be forgotten, leaving behind only photographs or myths about its founders and leaders.